This well-made British video explores many of ancient India’s impressive
achievements. Many people still do not realize that it was India that gave the world the concept of zero and developed the modern decimal numbering system, the digits zero through nine. This system (later mislabeled as Arabic in origin) made calculations much easier and led to advances in many fields, including astronomy, navigation and business. When the system finally reached Europe, in the 13th century, the Catholic church responded by pronouncing it the work of the devil–and mathematicians who used it were burned at the stake.
The great cities of the Harappan civilization, such as Mohenjodaro and Dholavira, were constructed over 4,000 years ago on carefully designed plans; each house had a well, washroom and lavatory, draining into a sophisticated sewage system that ran underneath every street in town. These people were among the most technically advanced of all ancient civilizations.
India’s early metalworkers used techniques unknown to the rest of the world, such as the “lost wax” method of casting figures and the art of making iron rust-free. In the medical field, India pioneered cataract surgery, plastic surgery and inoculation to prevent smallpox; she gave the world ayurveda, from which Western medicine has gained much, and yoga, which has been shown to be helpful in a wide range of medical conditions. India’s cotton cloth was so finely made that the ancient Greeks and Romans often mistook it for silk. India’s original dyeing techniques produced a stunning array of colors from which her weavers created masterpieces of design, and cotton cloth from India was traded all over the world.
The point is very nicely made that India’s science has always been closely allied with her religion. It is important to perform one’s religious rituals promptly at specified times and to select an auspicious day for an important task. In Jaipur is a huge, brilliantly engineered stone observatory built in the early 18th century, with a wide variety of astronomical instruments including a massive sundial that tells time accurately to the minute. But of course, sundials aren’t much help at night or on overcast days. India also developed a water clock so that people could perform their religious rituals as required, regardless of whether the sun was visible.